Ikea is certainly one of the most interesting stores to wander. The stores have multiple sections full of a variety of stuff, as well as a pathway that's organized to fee like a labyrinth. They're also designed to maximize the time you spend in-store so that you have the greatest potential to buy more than you planned.
This maximization also created a store that's perfect for playing hide-and-seek. Or at least that's what the 30,000 signers on a Facebook memo advocating signing up for an round of hide-and-seek in a Netherlands Ikea store think. According to the First Post, the idea was inspired by a few Belgians who who thought that Ikea's labyrinthine design was perfect for hide and seek. Others heard about the project and eventually did it themselves. Now, it's a common practice in Belgium and the Netherlands to sign up thousands of people to play hide-and-seek in a local Ikea.
When asked what inspired the hide-and-seek sessions, one of the event organizers said, "Sometimes it's fun just to do some childish things, [and] Ikea is like an extremely large living room."
But Ikea is done with these hide-and-seekers. The Swedish furniture provider banned customers from playing hide-and-seek in its stores for health reasons. "It's hard to control," Ikea Group spokeswoman Martina Smedberg told Bloomberg. "We need to make sure people are safe in our stores, and that's hard to do if we don't even know where they are."
The hide-and-seek ban only applies to European stores so far. The concept of playing hide-and-seek in an Ikea has not reached America or Asia (yet). However, it's likely that Ikea will incorporate the ban in all Ikea stores in the near future.
